AEF President Al Attiyah eyes significant development of equestrian sport in Asia

14 Aug 2017 - 1:46

QNA

Doha: The newly elected President of the Asian Equestrian Federation (AEF) and President of Qatar Equestrian Federation (QEF) Hamad Abdulrahman Al Attiyah said that taking over the AEF Presidency is important to the development of equestrian sport in Asia which has strong federations.
Al Attiyah said that the current development process should be similar to the advanced federations in this sport in Europe, America and Africa, stressing that the development of sport in Asia will be reflected positively on the level of equestrian development in Qatar by finding more and powerful competitors and who have more experiences.
Al Attiyah stressed that his victory in the elections was a result of the support of the wise leadership in the country, represented by the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and father Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, as well as the directives of Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, President of the National Olympic Committee.
He said that it is very important for the equestrian sport in the region to be developed because this will have a significant impact on speeding the development of the Qatari equestrianism, which is highly supported by the state, adding that the support without finding a strong competitor will not be helpful alone.
This development, Al Attiyah said, will help raise the level of all national teams in all categories and will help in the growth of the horse market because equestrian sports also depends on marketing.
He expressed thanks to the team work for his election program, which had a significant impact in convincing members of the Asian Assembly of the Qatari Federation’s electoral program. He also paid his gratitude to H E Qatar’s Ambassador to Indonesia Ahmed Jassim Al Hamar and the Embassy staff for their support and attention to the Qatari delegation during the elections days, noting that the Qatari Embassy had a great role in this achievement.
He announced that Qatar Equestrian Federation will work in the future on the participation of equestrians from the Asian continent in the tournaments to be held in Qatar, stressing that this is one of the most important goals of his election program.
He added that he will be working on several tournaments in more than one Asian country and not only in Qatar, because organising Asian tournaments will help develop referees, coaches, equestrians, organisational abilities and doctors and will help exchange experiences among cadres in Asia.
Al Attiyah underlined that the level of equestrians in Qatar is witnessing a remarkable development, but the results of their foreign participations are currently due to the level of horses participating. He noted that the Federation has a plan to support its players with a number of good horses, however, finding the right horses needs to be thoroughly researched.
He revealed that the QEF is planning to achieve the qualification for the upcoming Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020, and will work on the same plan as before. This time, the experience of reaching the Olympics is great for the Qatari players and the coming years will see a deliberate work for qualification.
Speaking about upcoming events for the Federation, Al Attiyah explained that the start will be in October with local competitions which will continue until May 2018. The event calendar includes many local and international tournaments.
QEF will host some of the Asian tournaments in addition to the participation in all international and regional tournaments, especially the competitions that will help in awarding qualifying points for international championships, including the Arab League.
The Federation will apply for participation in the Arab League tournaments to be held in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, regardless of the current political matters because these rounds provide points to help qualify for world championships, he added.
Al Attiyah noted that QEF is working to find new horsemen through the Future Knights program. This program started over the past years and is working to give the new riders the opportunity to train and engage in the participation with senior equestrians.
He revealed that the second phase of the equestrian facilities will soon be received. It will include more than 400 rooms for horses, while the first phase consisted of only 70 horse rooms, in addition to a horse training school. Al Shaqab Academy is also one of the important tributaries and works alongside the Federation in the graduation of new riders with high capabilities.